U of O Watch mission, in the words of Foucault...

"One knows … that the university and in a general way, all teaching systems, which appear simply to disseminate knowledge, are made to maintain a certain social class in power; and to exclude the instruments of power of another social class. … It seems to me that the real political task in a society such as ours is to criticise the workings of institutions, which appear to be both neutral and independent; to criticise and attack them in such a manner that the political violence which has always exercised itself obscurely through them will be unmasked, so that one can fight against them." -- Foucault, debating Chomsky, 1971.

U of O Watch mission, in the words of Socrates...

"An education obtained with money is worse than no education at all." -- Socrates

video of president allan rock at work

Sunday, March 22, 2015

"We can’t just have a protocol or policy" --Anne-Marie Roy


Forum calls for consent culture initiatives on Canadian campuses (LINK)

Student conference held on the U of O campus makes its point. Are university administrations hearing this? Where is the official forum that would have heard the students? Will resources be allocated for student-lead initiatives?

Now, leaving hockey players aside for a moment, do powerful executives ever participate in rape culture? It seems to me that the student politicians could also focus on obtaining a policy with teeth that admits that the problem can lie with deans, VPs, and presidents, rather than effectively treat the highest echelons as beyond reproach and beyond any real accountability regarding complaints, except when Allan Rock decides to throw one under the bus.

Any such policy without real and apparent teeth at the top will only serve to widen the gap between students and the top executives, and between university employees and their bosses.

Here (below) is a video look at the need to include transparency and accountability at the highest levels when it comes to rape culture. How can rape culture be changed if we condone blindness to the institution's dominance hierarchy?

Will there be transparency regarding the content and frequency of the training provided to deans? Will there be special training for VPs and the President? Will we know what that training or education consists in? Who will have the gravitas to provide that training? Will there be a final exam and grades to ensure certification?

Getting serious about rape culture must include a horizontal policy field that corrects for hierarchical power.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Plus any rape culture policy will in practice be used exclusively as a tool against men. Lower class males mostly but possibly used to lynch the odd high status male (see jian ghomeshi) etc. There will inevitably be no intention of ever using the policy to hold a female accountable although the policy will not explicitly state that of course.